Fluxworks Analysis

As a further point to investigate the relation of Marina Abramović’s performances to Fluxworks, three main elements can be taken; duration, medium and subject, that also leads us to some of Fluxus criteria, such as ephemerality, simplicity, presence in time and experimentalism.

Fluxus events and work were interdisciplinary art activities, which mainly fall into the category of intermedia. The term intermedia is established by Dick Higgins, who was associated with Fluxus. It has almost the same principle with Fluxus, if there cannot be a boundary between art and life, there shouldn’t be boundaries also between art forms. An intermedia work can consist of multiple media, but can be expressed through a single medium, too. The important feature

One of the well-known gender bending event is the Fluxwedding of George Maciunas and his wife Billie Hutching, in February 1978, a few months before Maciunas’ death. The couple traded their clothing, challenging the social constructions and conventions of gender roles, also connected with clothing of choice. Marina Abramović also creates a content dealing with our social constructions based on the body. One of her best­-known performances, Rhythm 0 (1974), from the Rhythm Series, was on this subject. She presented herself with the instructions: “There are 72 objects on the table that one can use on me as desired. Performance. I am the object. During this period, I take full responsibility”. The public was aggressive, she dealt with male degradation and objectification of a woman as a saint, as a mother or a whore. Such an action, that allows the audience to take a part in the performance confronts us with our true human nature in the end; “ There was this person who cut my neck with a razor and drank my blood. There was another who gave me a rose and a third person who cut my clothes and who took the thorn of the rose and stuck it into my body. They undressed me, the didn’t rape me because their wives were there. The women would tell the men what to do to me. And there was one who came with a handkerchief and took my tears running down my face”. The danger was included as an inevitable element of life and reflected upon the audience, who are actually responsible for their actions, as their human quality. This work is often compared to Cut Piece (1964) by Yoko Ono, where she invited the audience to approach her and cut away her clothing. In both performances the artists „give what the audience chooses to take“. Ono was entitled as ‚the High Priestess of Happening’ and a pioneer in performance art. In years 1960 - 1961, her home